Out-Of-The-Box Easter

Since we came home from Florida on Saturday, there wasn't much time to make detailed plans for Easter Sunday.  So we woke up in the morning and had jelly beans for breakfast, went for a hike in the afternoon, then topped it off with burgers, fries & frosties for dinner.

Here's a sequence of Cole taking pictures of Phil and me in burst mode.  Ahh, young love.

A holiday as untraditional as the family.  L'chaim.

Florida Vacay - Day 1. This Post May Be A Little Deep But I'm Feeling Sappy.

We just got back from 6 amazing days in Florida.  Amazing not just because of the beautiful sunny weather every day, or the pool 10 feet from the house (well, that was pretty amazing), or the cocktails that kept appearing in my hands, or the theme parks that are totally worth the gazillion dollars in entrance fees.

Amazing because I learned a lot from our family about how to enjoy life.  It may have been the buzz from the daquiris, but there was a lot of love and laughter in that house.

The older 2 boys had to share an air mattress and it was getting a little territorial.  Luckily I found a gigantic stuffed animal tucked away in Lissy's closet that broke up the turf war for the remainder of the trip.

I feel like this quote sums up what I have kicking around in my head:


What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.

When we develop a love for things in our lives instead of for life itself we truly miss the point of life. Remember that material things may be able to satisfy your appetite for a short while, but love will satisfy appetites for lifetimes. Learn how to love people for who they are and use things around you as water to a plant, only to create growth and beauty, not to create and maintain life.

Take A Hike

One thing is for sure - you won't ever hear me complain about this amazing weather.  Getting the boys outside makes me realize how cooped up we've been, so we're soaking up the sun every chance we can get.

Yesterday afternoon we hit up Stroud Preserve to throw rocks in the river and hike around the park.  We made lots of new dog friends and discovered that the maximum attention span for a hike is about 5 minutes.  Noted.

This is where I accidentally dropped Dean's sippy cup into the river below.  As you can see, the boys were totally fascinated with the fact that I did something I wasn't supposed to.  They're still talking about it today. 

Puppet Show

Not only was the delivery of bunk beds an exciting time here in Kerper land - almost equally as cool was the arrival of the mattresses.  Because they came in a really. big. box.  And boxes are fun for little kids.

The boys asked me to turn it into a puppet show theater - or "Pubd show" as phonetically spelled by our master decorator Cole.

Cole worked dilligently on his puppet - a groundhog named "Groundhog."  The kid's got talent and originality.  Nice.

From there they fought over who would put on the show and who would watch, the puppet's real name (Cole insisted it was "Groundhog" but Ry wasn't buying it), whether the audience (me) should clap before or after the performance, etc. etc. 

So here's all of my hard work (I even gave it a door with a knob) quarantined in the kitchen because I couldn't stand to hear anymore fighting.

Family bonding at its finest. 



Big Fish In A Small Pond

Last week we bought bunk beds off of Craigslist. It's turned out to be the greatest purchase ever...in addition to saving space they've also turned into a fort, a trampoline, a diving board, and now - a fishing boat.

The boys were running around in circles tonight looking for something to do. For some reason I thought, "Let's stretch wire hangers and make fishing rods so they can fish off the top bunk." Check.

Once that was complete, we needed something for them to catch. So I thought, "What's soft and flexible that we have in large quantities?" Eureka! Underoos.

Best. Idea. Ever.

Coley, Defined.

My dear, sweet, headstrong Cole. No one's going to tell him how to have his fun.

Exhibit A: At the end of a recent Cub Scout hayride, there was a big bonfire. Everyone gathered round to toast marshmallows and have a Coombaya kinda night. Cole, instead, sat on this here log.


Exhibit B: During a recent trip to the zoo the lion was feeling photogenic and plopped himself right in front of the viewing window. Charlie, Ryan, and Dean were understandably glued to the glass. Cole, on the other hand, was too busy reading the zoo map to notice.


Exhibit C: Tonight he had a choice: let me cut his nails or sit in Time Out. He chose to sit in time out for almost an hour, and finally relented with: "Oh fine - I'll let you cut my nails now."

Raising this child takes lots of deep breaths...but his nails are cut. Oh yes, his nails are cut (a.k.a. I won.)

Vacay Day 4

There's a magnet on the fridge for the Fractured Prune Donut Shop: "You Create 'Em, We Make 'Em." Um, yes please! Cole chose these hot pink Dora sunglasses for the walk down...whatevs.


It was perfect weather for the beach, and Phil had a perfect idea to go along with it...draw a circle in the sand and tell Cole to stay inside of it. And whaddaya know, it worked.




After the beach, Phil took the older 2 fishing. They didn't catch anything (except a sea robin, whatever that is) but I think it was still a hit - especially since the people next to them caught a shark (per Ry, "Because it's Shark Week").




Since the older guys were with Dad, I got to hang with the little ones by ourselves. We walked the boards then went down to the water to play ball and roll around in the waves. It's hard to remember life with 2 kids, but it was nice to take advantage of the quiet time with my munchkins.

Vacay Day 2

Day 2 of vacay started out like the first. We hit the beach as early as possible and watched the kids wreak havoc on ourselves and everyone around us. Best part for me: I went out to the water with Ry and he said, "When I'm here nothing can bother me." My man found his happy place.

Next up was a trip out to our cousin's house to celebrate Sammy's birthday. They have an amazing pool and are just a 15 minute drive from OC, so it was a great way to spend the afternoon.


There was a long line for face painting, so I ended up filling the requests for 2 scary snakes. I won't be going professional anytime soon, but I'd say it was still a respectable showing.



The pinata was like nothing I've ever seen before. Mainly because Mom decided to hold it and let the kids gather round in a ravenous candy-rage. You go girl.


When we got back to the house we hit up the boardwalk to ride the rides. Here are the older boys with Dad on the ferris wheel:


Dean, as usual, played the part of angel-baby in the front of the stroller:


Cha is finally old enough to go on the rides and he eased his way into it:


Thumbs up after the twisting boat ride:


I wouldn't say the same for the Scream Machine:


On the walk back Cole asked to get his picture taken with this random cow. He either had to go to the bathroom or was imitating Michael Jackson, either way I thought I'd share for posterity's sake.


Let the adventures continue!!